


nothing old

by njckle



Series: something wild [3]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, During Canon, Gen, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25781827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/njckle/pseuds/njckle
Summary: Newt braves the modern jungle of New York, all the while hiding the most vulnerable of creatures: a little girl.
Relationships: Jacob Kowalski & Newt Scamander, Newt Scamander & Sudanese Obscurial Girl, Queenie Goldstein & Newt Scamander, Tina Goldstein & Newt Scamander
Series: something wild [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/731343
Comments: 27
Kudos: 79





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to be the final one-shot to this series, but I decided to separate it into two fics after it got too long. Still trying to organize the chapters, so idk how many there will be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be the final one-shot to this series, but I decided to separate it into two fics after it got too long. Still trying to organize the chapters, so idk how many there will be.

In inviting someone into his case, Newt doesn’t think past the thought of giving Mr. Kowalski the medical attention he deserves. He alleviates the murtlap bite symptoms, shows off the Swooping Evil, gets the graphorn meal ready, and sets out to the rest of his case to take stock of which are missing. He’s relieved that Frank didn’t take a chance and escape, a diverted catastrophe that New York isn’t ready to handle.

“You have a kid?”

Newt nearly trips over his own feet at the sudden question. “Excuse me?”

Mr. Kowalski nods to the pair of shoes haphazardly tossed at the foot of the stairs to his shed. They’re too small and feminine to be Newt’s.

Newt hums, wringing his hands. “No—yes—it's complicated.”

Mr. Kowalski raises his eyebrows, his confused expression one Newt's becoming very acquainted with. Firstly with the introduction to magic and all that's associated with it, and now with a more human problem, something that could be explained, but how to go at it is difficult.

"Are wizard kids different than…" Mr. Kowalski motions to himself. "They ain't crazy looking or something?" He mimes something that could reference antennas or horns. 

Despite himself, Newt huffs out a laugh. The question seems ridiculous in face value, but it's a sound inquiry given the lack of knowledge between wizards and Muggles. "No, they are like any child you've seen."

Thankfully, Aluel isn’t anywhere to be seen and while Newt had warned her of sneaking off, he’s given her some leeway. She’s been fond of the forest since they'd brought in the fireflies, exploring the twisting paths that always seemed to change. Newt had built everything in his case, but magic can go beyond what one expects and his is no exception, but she knew what to do if lost. The werewolf would lead her out.

How to keep the interactions between her and Mr. Kowalski limited, New has no idea. It shouldn’t pose a problem besides Aluel's limited practice in social situations since living away from most civilizations, but Newt knows that this isn’t as simple as that. Aluel hasn’t said much of her life in the village, only small tidbits of words about small memories, all of which include Newt. The Swooping Evil venom did it’s job and erased all the terrible things that went on in her village, but still she gets taken over with physical afflictions once in a while, sudden frights and irrational panics. The mind is a strange thing, to be plagued by things it can’t remember.

Newt distracts himself by soaking in the awe that comes off the man as he takes in one sight after another, softening up to the Muggle at each entertaining comment. He realizes he’s missed this, missed having people see the beauty in his creatures that he sees everyday. Aluel understood, but she was a child and believed in the wonders the world had to offer. Adults were less so accepting.

He thinks things are going well when he notices that Mr. Kowalski is no longer listening to his explanation of runespoor breeding. The Muggle is staring over his shoulder, an odd expression on his face. Newt begins to ask about it, only to jump at a small crash. He whirls around to see Aluel behind him. At her feet, a mooncalf feed spills out of the basket.

Newt clears his throat. “Aluel, I want you to meet someone. This is Mr. Kowalski.”

She doesn't respond. Rather, she doesn't stop staring at Jacob. Wafi’s hisses from where she's perched on her shoulder, her fur turning dark. 

Newt crosses the space separating them in less than three strides, hiding Jacob from view with his body. “Aluel. Look at me.” After more quiet pleas and gentle touches, she does as he asks. She's shaking. “I said I'd protect you, didn't I?” he asks softly. “Do you trust me?”

She nods.

"He won't hurt you," Newt says and knows it's the truth. Mr. Kowalski doesn't seem like the man. "He won't hurt you."

Aluel nods again. There are unshed tears in her eyes and that is more than enough for Newt to want to whisk her away to the jungles of Africa again and away from this suffocating cage of a city.

“Do you want to say hello or would you rather not?”

She shakes her head. 

“That’s perfectly fine. Why don't you feed the unicorn,” he whispers. “You can take Wafi with you—she loves to play in the trees.” Newt tucks a daisy in her breast pocket and tries to instill the security he’s offering her.

Finally, she does move, stumbling away, her eyes not leaving Newt’s. “It’s alright,” he whispers. He doesn’t move until she turns and sprints for the trees.

When he finally gets to his feet, he feels tired and wishes that he could join her, or that they can spend the afternoon in Frank’s nest and close their eyes and pretend they’ve already made it to Arizona.

Mr. Kowalski shifts when Newt looks at him. “She’s, uh…” He motions to his face.

“Healing,” Newt says and leaves it at that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't mean for this story to go on a hiatus, but 2020 was an absolute shitshow. But you know, with the beginning of a new year and testing positive for COVID-19, I thought I might as well update for old times sake.

America is fraught with more dangers than the wilderness and jungles, predators more perilous than any beasts, coated with cloth and silks instead of furs, and armed with words instead of claws.

Newt would rather face off the unknown of rhebworst deserts than play the strange game Mr. Graves seems to enjoy. He lies through his teeth about obscurials and past failures, doesn’t have to pretend to be unsettled by the man and everything he says. There’s something off, something he can’t place, like a beast hiding just beyond his sight, one with ill intent.

But he only thinks of his case—he needs his case back.

They get sentenced to death, he and Tina—Tina, who he didn’t mean to bring into his mess, the stubborn American who took him in and didn’t know better because he didn’t give better. Her sobs feel wrong alongside everything, ringing in Newt’s ear from the Interrogation Room to the Death Cell. Newt knows it's wrong like he knows so many other decidedly humans things are.

And there’s too much at stake to take this lying down. 

She looks at him and he thinks there’s something about brown eyes that are undeniable. He’s seen so much soul and emotion in every pair he meets, has promised and pleaded to them before, and now isn’t so different.

With the help of the Swooping Evil they escape and run, hand in hand, and that’s not so different either. Still the alarms are loud and constant, and so are the footsteps that seem to come from everywhere, following after them no matter how many aurors pop up behind corners and pillars. Newt doesn’t have a plan to get out of the headquarters, much less find their wands and his case, doesn’t think Tina does either, and—

"Get in," Queenie says, holding out his case.

—Newt’s so incredibly happy he met these Americans.

Tina and Jacob remain in his shed, and, for that, he's thankful. As much as he wishes he could keep to his motto and not let his worries cripple him, he's come to realization that there are exceptions. His creatures for one. And now, despite his initial hesitation, a little girl who means so much to him that it's frightening.

He hurries through the habitats, checking his creatures and assuring himself that everything is fine and all of them are safe. And yet, the tightness in his chest doesn't go away as quickly as it usually does when he gets a fright, a frantic edge to his search as he steps out of the caves and into the jungles, gaze jumping from one spot to another as he wonders and hopes if it would be enough to hide—

A small body crashes into him from behind. Newt stumbles forward, but gathers himself quickly at the tugging on his coat A strange noise escapes him when he lays his eyes on the familiar mess of curls. “Thank Merlin, you're alright.”

Wafi climbs to his shoulder, mewling in distress. Whatever had happened while MACUSA checked the content of his case, she wasn’t happy about it, her anxiety still lingering. Without Dougal here, she’ll continue to fret. 

“Aluel…”

She's shaking and Newt doesn't hesitate to wrap her in a hug. Theseus always initiated contact like it was expected, like Newt was wrong for not knowing where to put his hands and when, but this…this feels natural. Aluel grips his vest and presses her face in his stomach and Newt pets her hair and back like he remembers his mother did for him whenever a hippogriff calf didn't make it. “It's alright. I'm here.”

She tilts her head up to look at him, lips trembling, and Newt hugs her tighter, murmuring simple reassurances until the tremors subside. He gives her a quick check, sighing when he spots no injuries or the like. “No one saw you?”

She shakes her head. “I hide with Nundu.”

Newt can't help but laugh. “Of course you did.” He kissed the crown of her head. “You’re smart, that’s what you are. Brave as well."

“Scared…”

“You can be brave and still be afraid.” He pulls away. “Now, I’m going to need you to be brave again. I have to leave, but I’ll be right back, alright?”

“No,” she whines, gripping him tighter. “Don’t go!”

His heart goes out to her. There’s nothing more he would like to do than stay here, in his case, and hug her until she feels better, but the situation doesn’t permit it. He has his creatures to think of too. “I still haven't found Dougal—he's still out there, lost and alone. I can’t leave him.” It’s silent between the two of them. It’s time they can’t afford to waste, but he allows it because he’s never been able to deny anything to a pair of brown eyes. “You understand, don’t you?” he pleads.

Finally, she breathes and it’s incredible what a look can convey, worries and trust all at once. "You coming back?"

"Always."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update? In this economy?

Finding Dougal isn't the more perilous part of the night, not with an occamy juvenile holed up in a department attic.

Still, with a little bit of teamwork and a lot of luck, they manage to get a hold of the situation with only moderate property damage and a teapot filled with an over-excitable hatching. And when they step down into his case, all his creatures safe and accounted for, Newt thinks that the entire ordeal is nearly over. Except it seems the night continues to be adamant at proving itself to be difficult, if only to make Newt a worry more than he should.

This newfound interest in another person, strange and awkward, leaves Newt giving more than he has in a long time, if only to fulfill this new desire to interact with Tina. He’d thought he’d given up on trying to understand people, thought he’d only manage it with one other (children are trusting and honest in ways creatures are and humans are not, always have been; Aluel easy to give to and eager to give back).

This proves to be his undoing because in his distraction with Tina, he’s left one of his guests unattended. He doesn't notice Queenie drift off from their little group and toward the erumpent habitat until it's too late. Her attention is focused on something beside the entry to the caves—focused on _someone_.

Newt’s feet are already hurrying past Jacob and Dougal before he quite realizes it. He quickly steps in front of Queenie before she can move towards Aluel, but even with him acting as a physical barrier, there’s no way of stopping her from seeing what he’s desperately tried to heal. The expression on her face is hurt and torn, the curve of her lips trembling. “Oh, you poor thing…”

“You’ll scare her,” Newt whispers, “so please…don’t get too close. Let her decide…” Maybe he could give Aluel a moment…

Queenie eyes flicker to his and it's almost frightening to know that he’s being examined inside and out. She looks at him like he’s something entirely new, reaching out to hold his wrists. Then she smiles wide. “You’re a good man,” she whispers, gently squeezing his wrists before letting go. “And I ain’t the only one who thinks so.”

“Is that…?” Over Queenie’s shoulder, Tina’s looks between the three of them before focusing on Newt. “You lied.”

Newt ducks his head. "I'm sorry for misleading you." The falsehood he'd admitted in the cell was more a confession of his worries, a nightmare that almost came to be. It was relieving to say it aloud, overshadowing the guilt of deceiving Tina (already so strange to begin with, this desire to be in her good graces and impress a real and positive piece of himself). "It was for her own safety. I don't know what might become of her if…" He stalls.

"What's her name?" Queenies asks gently.

She must know it already, having dipped both in his and Aluel’s mind. Queenie gives him a small encouraging smile. "Aluel." Newt says and the name itself feels like a secret. "No one in her village would tell me what her birth name was and she couldn't remember it, so we made a day of picking out ones she liked."

“That’s real sweet of you.” Queenie makes her way around the shack, delicate and graceful, her voice soft and sweet as ever. “Hi, honey.” She stops when Aluel inches back, but her smile never waivers. “Oh, there ain’t nothing to be afraid of. We're Newt’s friends.”

“Friends?” Aluel asks, looking at Newt. It's a word she's very familiar with and associates with his beasts.

“Yes. Would you like to meet them?”

She inches out from behind the nest, Wafi at her back, and hesitantly makes her way to Newt. He meets her halfway and kneels when she reaches him, taking her hand, hoping to be a lifeline that can ease her through this. 

Wafi shifts, staring at the newcomers over Newt’s shoulder. He placates her with a grub from his pocket, keeping her attention, and soon her open-mouthed chewing is loud in his ear. Then he focuses on the anxious girl before him. Habit has him handing her a daisy from his pocket. “Do you trust me?”

She nods.

“This is Tina and Queenie. And you've met Jacob before, remember? They helped me find Dougal.”

At the name, Wafi abandons them in favor of Dougal, who appears at Newt’s left. The two of them chitter, their sounds mixing with the rest of his creatures, lightening the atmosphere until it can be considered normal. Jacob seemed enamoured by the way Wafi’s coat changes, like shifting clouds in the sky.

Aluel fiddles with his hand, limp as she brings it to her chest. "Friends like Wafi?" She leans her weights on Newt and brings her mouth to his ear, her hair tickling the side of his face. "Like Pickett?"

"Exactly that," he whispers back. "I like them and I think you will too."

She looks at him surprised and he wants to laugh because despite never meeting his mother, Aluel has managed to replicate her expression precisely. It’s a mix of almost disbelief and surprise, touched with the everpresent naivety of adolescence. Newt wonders how she’s come to this level of understanding of his character in the short time they’ve known one another.

Queenie laughs quietly behind him and Aluel peeks over Newt’s shoulder. “It’s alright, sweetie, I won’t hurt ‘ya. Promise.”

Even with the unrelenting kindness and inviting aura that’s undoubtedly coming off the American witch, Aluel doesn’t budge. Newt feels her hands fisting his shirt. Fears and past trauma can do so much harm even when it’s gone. He himself wants to do so much, but is limited by cages of his own design, preferring to remain in spaces he knows he won’t be hurt. “You’re safe,” he whispers, taking her hand and shifting to reveal her. “They’re good people.” She resists a little and he stops. “Aluel…”

It's too many people in one sitting, this one day throwing more interactions at her than the three months she's been with him. He'd hoped to ease her into society slowly and her terms, but the situation snatched it right out of his hands. They were witches like her, she just needed to see that.

“Oh!” Queenie brandishes her wand with a smooth and gentle motion that Newt’s come to affiliate with her. “ _Orchideous_.”

It’s a small spell, but Queenie must have a bigger picture in mind because she wills the it to go beyond a conjuring a bouquet, pushing it to spread further until the plain dirt under their feet are bursting with flowers as they pop up one by one, stubbornly breaking through the planks of wood as they get closer to the shed. Before long, Newt’s kneeling in a small flower garden filled with daisies.

“Oh wow,” Jacob says.

Aluel lets out a small gasp and bends down to look at the closest flowers. 

“They’re real,” Queenie tells her. She turns to Tina still at steps leading out from the shed. “She likes daisies, Teenie.”

For some odd reason Tina looks to Newt. He doesn’t know why, but his face must convey something she understands and wants because she carefully steps up to the garden and does an easy twist of her wand that’s strange and fitting of her stern character.

A breeze passes through the flowers, color bleeding into them. Blues and reds and yellows and everything in between, all so bright and eye-catching, mix in with the white. Aluel makes a small noise, kneeling to pet the tips of the flower petals, Wafi leaping back onto her shoulders as she examines the new, little garden.

Queenie goes an extra step and summons a crown of gardenias to settle on her head, carnations for Jacob, and camellias for Newt and Tina. Aluel hands fly to her hair when daisies appear there.

Then Tina comes closer, careful to not crush anything under her feet. She slowly settles down a few feet beside Newt. “Hi,” she says quietly, kindly, lovely.

Aluel crawls toward her. "Hi."

Queenie beckons Jacob over. “Come on over, Jakie. .”

As Jacob settles down and Aluel doesn't flinch, too taken by the flowers, Newt thinks this is a step in the right direction.


	4. Chapter 4

He descends into his case in front of the President herself.

He barely steps out of his shed when he’s rushed. Aluel doesn't hesitate to latch into his legs. “Newt!”

He returns the embrace as best he can. “I'm alright—just a few scratches.” He'll be feeling the lingering effect of the electricity for a few days, but it's nothing he can't handle. There’s much to do and little time to do it, so he must persevere. He looks over Aluel’s shoulder to the desert habitat, knowing what needs to be done.

Frank’s already looking at the two of them because he’s always had that strange feeling of  _ knowing _ that magical creatures often possess. He can sense danger, but the way he stands taller speaks more of his understanding, as if he’s aware of what’s going on just outside their sanctuary and what he needs to do already. He’s shining gold, stronger and greater than when Newt first laid eyes on him.

Newt’s going to miss him terribly. “I think it’s time for Frank to move on.”

Aluel pulls back, surprised. “But…Arizona.”

“That was the plan, yes, but we need his help. He can find his way back home from here.”

She pulls back even more, but Newt only has to reach out and she stays. “No…”

“We talked about this. He can't stay with us forever—he belongs in the wild.” The Statute of Secrecy is broken, scared Muggles just outside, ready to spread the word that witches exist, and MACUSA can’t Obliviate every single person in New York. “He’s the only one who can do it.” He swallows, blinking back tears. “We have to let him go.”

They stare at one another. Newt’s trembling, but does his best to keep it together for Aluel’s sake. This must happen no matter how much it pains him to let go of a friend he’s not ready to part with, no matter how much he wishes time and change didn’t come along hand in hand.

“Can I say goodbye?” He’s truly lucky to know a child who understands and cares, realizes it with moments like this where what one wants and what needs to be are separate. Aluel might not understand, but she accepts for the greater good of another, and that is more than most wizards can’t accept.

“Yes,” Newt says, “I think he’d like that very much.”

He holds out his hand and she takes it, and they say their goodbyes together.

* * *

He ends up saying two sets of goodbyes.

* * *

He's still covered in grime and dust, the dirt making his eyes itch while his matted hair crackles with lingering static. His shirt is more grey than white while his vest looks like it needs a severe wash—as does the rest of him, but he's too tired to clean himself up.

Tina is in better shape than him, covered in dirt from head to toe, but faring no heavy wounds. Sometimes pain isn’t physical, he thinks, looking at the bleakness of her express, the fatigue that bruises her eyes and drags her mouth down. Queenie rushes to her room before he can see her face and Tina lets out a tired sigh, giving Newt a frail smile before following after. 

Left alone in the empty room, he's unsure what to do, no consolation able to fix the hurt. Instead, he chooses the coward's way out and descends into his case with creaking knees and a flaring back.

He finds Aluel sitting on a flat rock in Frank’s enclosure. The artificial glow is warm and inviting, honey-like with its golden hues and dusty tarps. The heat hits him as he slowly makes his way up the steps. 

She looks up when Wafi chitters at him, silent as he painstakingly settles down beside her. She doesn’t say anything, merely looking at him and waiting for him to make the first move. After a few minutes, he does.

“I was trying to help a boy with his magic,” he starts. “It was eating away at him, you see. He'd grown up hating that part of himself rather than controlling it.”

“Like me?”

“Yes, like you.”

She’s silent for a moment, then, “Is he coming with us?”

Newt shakes his head. “No, he's not.”

“Why?”

He swallows. “He's left and I don't know how to bring him back.”

“Oh.”

Newt swallows again, unsure how to continue with such a tender subject, and in the end he decides to remain silent. He thinks Aluel understands—he hopes she does.

“I stay.”

Newt snaps his head to look at her. “What?”

“I stay.” She pats his leg in a comforting manner. “Promise.”

Newt’s breath leaves him in one great puff, sounding more like wheeze than anything else. He looks down at the girl next to him, at her expression, so earnest, and he feels his eyes grow damp.

He hugs her tight, never wanting to let go.


End file.
